Promoting strong public schools for Providence\’s East Side and beyond

Say it isn’t so…

As mother nature prepares to come crashing down upon our heads, it is becoming evident that something is rotten in the city of Providence.

A great deal has happened over the past few months. All of our teachers were fired, and then many were rehired. We reported in February that Superintendent Brady assured parents that teacher reassignments would be made according to the criterion-based interview hiring process. See:

This appeared to be a step in the right direction. While CBH has imperfections, it would have eliminated seniority as the overriding factor in appointing teachers, and would have also eliminated the now annual, pernicious, bumping process which often led to the loss of excellent junior teachers. CBH was also a response to Commissioner Gist’s order to eliminate seniority as the sole determinant (coupled with appropriate certification) of deciding which teacher might receive a given position. Note that no one believes that seniority is unimportant. We all value our excellent senior teachers, and do believe that seniority should be taken into consideration as part of a placement process. We are dismayed though by the ongoing retention of ineffective tenured and senior teachers in our school system.

Her resignation reflected her disappointment over the direction the Mayor was taking PTU contract negotiations, and his decision to effectively exclude the School Board from discussions about the collective bargaining agreement.

Our Mayor negotiated a contract which was ratified by the union 2 weeks ago:

That contract guaranteed that every fired teacher would be returned to this district. This comes after 5 schools were closed, and teachers were fired, purportedly to deal with declining enrollment, inefficient utilization of school buildings, and to help our ailing economy.

So what else have we learned?

First, that the Providence School Board (now being loaded with new Mayoral appointees who did not participate in the usual community vetting/public question and answer sessions), just voted to endorse the proposal to open up to 5 new Mayoral Academies (Charter Schools):

The West Side Public Education Coalition (WSPEC), representing the community most adversely impacted by the school closings, has publicly denounced this decision, and notes that supporting Charter Schools could mean as much as $12.5 million less would be available to children attending Providence Public schools.

Second, we just learned that the Mayor’s office, while touting the savings engendered by all of the new municipal workers’ contracts, failed to mention that the new teacher’s contract contained 2 three percent raises in later years:

The Mayor’s office also touted the fact that the school day was to be lengthened, and common planning time is no longer to come out of the school day. The school day lengthening only amounts to an increase of 5″ per day per year! While we welcome the “fix” to the common planning time fiasco, we have yet to learn when common planning time will occur.

Third, we have heard from reliable sources that teachers have been assigned (force-placed) in positions at Vartan Gregorian, Martin Luther King, and Nathan Bishop Middle School around and outside of the Criterion Based Hiring process. Some of the placements may have occurred even after a teacher was identified via CBH. This would appear to violate the Commissioner’s order and RIDE’s BEP.

In our February post, we supported Mayor Taveras’ concept of transformational reform. Reform was supposed to right-size schools, provide the best teacher and the right teacher for every classroom, and help deal with our “category 5” financial crisis. What we are seeing now looks like something taken from Mayor Cianci’s “Politics and Pasta”: back-room deals, fiscal decisions made for political expediency, the needs and desires of the PTU put before those of our children.

Now as we are all facing a true, hopefully no more than, category 1 storm, we call upon the Mayor, his aides, the Providence School Board, and the Providence Teacher’s Union to re-earn our trust. Decisions need to be made in a transparent fashion. Decisions need to be made in the best interests of our students, first and foremost. Letters are being written. Protests are being organized. We will not allow the needs of our students to be sacrificed.

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

7 Responses

Thanks for the historic background on these issues. The call to action is a little vague…. who should letters be written to? How can we protest the unraveling of the gains that have been made in improving the teacher placement process for the benefit of our students? Concrete actions items please!

Karen, you should email the Superintendent (susan.lusi@ppsd.org), the Mayor’s Senior Advisor on Education (aromans@providenceri.com) and the School Board. Nina Pande (ninapande@federalhillhouse.org), Brian Lalli (blalli@ric.edu), Keith Oliveira (keitholiveira@verizon.net), Sanchez Magaly (magaly.sanchez0599@gmail.com) Wise Bob (Robert.Wise@ppsd.org), Julian Dash (julian.dash@gmail.com)and Maila Touray (mailatouray@gmail.com). We have begun an email campaign demanding that teachers hired through CBH be placed in those positions, and that any forced-placements resulting from the PPSD failing to complete CBH be for one year only. Thank you! Kathy Crain

Are these “forced placements” that you’re referring to from the MATCH process, or are these openings that came up after that? Are you specifically arguing for hiring from outside the district even as we close schools?

Commissioner Gist’s interpretation of the BEP forbids only entirely seniority based placements, but doesn’s specifically prefer CBH. In fact, eventually someone will probably win a suit challenging CBH on equity grounds, as it will not “that highly effective educators work with classrooms of students who have significant achievement gaps.” Quite the opposite.

Here is a copy of my email sent today to the School Board, Superintendant, and the PTU. Please write letters if you are a concerned parent and you want the best teachers teaching your children. This last minute change of forced hires is upsetting, but not at all surprising given the PTU and PPSD’s history. Even if this forced hiring only affects 2-3 teachers per school, it should not happen for the simple fact that the PPSD and PTU should do what they say there are going to do and actually keep a promise that happens to be legally required as well.

One of my children today heard about this today and sadly said, “Dad, what do you expect? The PPSD is just doing what they always do, screwing things up.” I told him I am not sure where things actually got screwed up exactly, but it bothers me that they are so screwed up (whether on their own or with the help of the PTU). More important and saddening is that it is even so apparent to our own children. We as parents have to speak up more against such tactics or decisions that are poorly made to protect the quality of their education.

I am so dismayed at the idea that forced placements are occurring. My son had a math teacher last year at Classical HS that should have been “forced retired or fired” but he was all too protected. This year he retired (and unfortunately for my son – 1 year too late). If he stayed on, he would have been forced hired – I am sure; how could this be?

My other son had a terrible 5th grade teacher and she also was engrained in the system/school. By the end of his 5th grade year, I had personal apologies from other teachers in the school and the principal himself that my son had to be subjected to such a terrible teacher. Can you believe that? Yes, can you believe that? I still can’t. What is wrong with our schools? When I asked Ms. Calabro directly at a meeting about this particular teacher, she said it was the failure of the principal’s managerial skills. I responded by saying that it was doubtful because this same lousy teacher, had been there through 4 different principals and therefore it was more likely related to the teachers union protectionism. By the way, this lousy teacher was also very “politically connected” and she occasionally would remind me of that by name dropping politicians-as if I really cared. (I have other examples beyond these two that my children have had to endure, but do not want to belabor the point beyond what I have stated.)

Did I have any control over their performances in the classroom? Did the principals have any real say in their performances? The obvious answers are NO and NO. Why is that our children are becoming pawns in the game of union politics? That is all that it is. What is wrong with this situation?

Why is that Steve Smith is so feared and empowered. Why does the PPSD and the mayor and School Board ultimately always cower and give in to him each and every year? He could care less about our children; in fact I know from my personal experience and interactions, he does care less. For the record, Mr. Smith has never responded to any of my emails about some of these individual cases and problems that I have had with teachers over the years. He also told me personally 6 years ago when I asked him about the possibility of teacher evaluations in the PPSD (one of the few times he did speak with me) that a teacher evaluation process would never happen on his watch. I have to say that was really upsetting to here as a parent. Well it is happening finally now, and what upsets me now is that he resisted it for all those years and in those years my kids could have had better teachers by weeding out some of the bad ones. Mr. Smith most cares for 1) himself, 2) his teachers and lastly and way down on his list 3) our children. His actions make this so apparent.

How dare the PPSD or School Board or whoever made the decision to bypass the CBH process allow that to happen! If it was about shortage of time, then that could have been solved by engaging more people to review the candidates. Whatever the excuses may be, they are lame and inexcusable.

Also, is it true that with the new contract, teachers cannot be fired for 3 years? Someone told me that recently and I have a hard time believing that is true. Can someone with knowledge of this please answer this question. Thanks.

In sum, I am so sick and tired of the shenanigans that go on in our PPSD; each and every year there seems to be some new situation that arises that undermines our children’s education.

Sincerely – a very fed up parent,
Warren Licht

PS Sam if you would please forward this email to the Mayor I would appreciate it; I could not find his email. Thanks.

Dear Parents and Citizens Who Have Expressed Concern about Recent Teacher Placements:

Thank you all for making your thoughts known on this important issue.

The Providence School Board began contemplating the forced placement issue on August 22nd in its executive session. Due to the fact that a Board quorum was not present for the entire executive session, a course of action could not be voted on. The School Board is convening a continuation of its executive session this Thursday, September 2nd, at 6:30 pm. It is the intent of the Board to look at all matters impacting force placements, with special consideration given to all of the written testimony received via your emails. The Board will then determine a plan of action.

A formal response to your concerns will be made subsequent to that meeting.

We thank you for your concern and patience. We hope together a resolution can be quickly reached.

What I think is a shame is that as a West Ender that was effected by Mrs Crain’s vote to close Bridgham, my child is now in 3 classes that have 28,29, & 30 kids at Delsesto. Last year class sizes were in the mid to low twenties and my son felt very confident, this year he is overwhelmed by the sheer number of students in his classes. I have called and emailed all parties and wonder if it is the same on the East Side at Nathan Bishop. It seems all that was done by the Mayor and School Board was overcrowd (certain?) schools. Epic failure. I have hope you will also work to help those who affected by this poor decision.

Dear Ry, I understand your frustration with my vote. Please know that we were promised by School Department officials AND city officials that class sizes would not go above 26. We were also promised that this would reduce busing costs, children would go to neighborhood schools, and that there was enough space. Clearly we were mislead by those in whom we placed our confidence and trust. I’ve said many times that, knowing what I know now, I wish I could change my vote. This is one of the many reasons I resigned from the School Board – and I promise I am working now to achieve accountability and equity for all children, regardless of where they live and what school they attend. Kathy Crain